The main penalty is $1.5 million, with another $1.25 million in penalties if PSE doesn’t complete a comprehensive gas pipeline inspection and remediation program by agreed upon deadlines.

In September, the UTC found PSE at fault for the explosion, saying the utility’s contractor had improperly deactivated that gas line, which was then damaged by people who used the tiny space between two buildings to store their belongings and subsequently damaged the pipe. Nine firefighters were injured in the explosion.

The complaint alleged five violations related to improper deactivation of a pipeline and failure to perform periodic gas leak surveys and corrosion tests as required by pipeline safety regulations. PSE did not contest the five violations.

The compliance program requires PSE to identify, inspect, and remediate more than 40,000 retired service lines, categorized as follows:

Group 1: Within 18 months, complete initial inspections on all 3,060 service lines retired by PSE’s contractor between 2000-2010 located in business districts.

Group 2: Within 24 months, complete initial inspections on a sample of 6,578 service lines for the 10,907 locations retired by PSE’s contractor between 2000-2010 that serve high occupancy structures, prioritizing schools, public buildings, and hospitals.

Group 3: Within 36 months complete initial inspections on a sample of 3,263 service lines for the 15,131 locations retired prior to 2000 that may have served high occupancy structures, prioritizing schools, public buildings, and hospitals.

Group 4: Within 36 months complete initial inspections on a sample of 3,069 service lines for the 11,691 locations retired after 2010 that may have served high occupancy structures, prioritizing schools, public buildings, and hospitals.

If the company discovers an active gas line in the sample from Groups 2-4, PSE must inspect all locations within that group and file an amended compliance plan with the commission.

PSE also agrees to evaluate active, above-ground service pipes as part of their regular inspection process with an enhanced focus on pipes susceptible to external damage, including tampering or vandalism.

The settlement also requires PSE to review its standards and practices related to deactivating service lines and implement employee training on any changes.

May 16th, 2017 by Doree

The Seattle Times reports that Firefighter Jeff Markoff, one of nine firefighters injured in the massive natural gas explosion that destroyed three businesses and damaged another 50 in downtown Greenwood on March 9, 2016, is suing Puget Sound Energy for lingering health issues related to the blast.

The explosion happened in the middle of the night, while firefighters were on scene investigating a report of a possible natural gas leak. Nine firefighters were injured, but none seriously. Three businesses were destroyed and 50 more damaged. Adjacent G&O Family Cyclery’s building was too damaged to reopen (they’ve since reopened a block away at 8558 Greenwood Ave. N.), as was Insurrection Apparel (which works with clients by appointment elsewhere) Better Hearing Center (which moved to Oaktree Village), and Kouzina Greek restaurant, which said in January that its Zoey Catering was closing because the building was too damaged and it couldn’t find a new location. The Angry Beaver across the street was heavily damaged and took months to reopen. Dozens of other businesses’ damage ranged from a single broken window to serious structural damage.

Business owners held a press conference in January taking PSE to task for fighting the UTC’s proposed fine and claimed the company was not doing enough to help affected business owners, many of whom were having trouble getting reimbursed by their insurance companies.

Puget Sound Energy is in the process of checking that every decommissioned gas line in the state has been properly capped.

March 21st, 2017 by Doree

Reminder: The Greenwood Community Council’s March meeting tonight will focus on reviewing the aftermath of the Greenwood natural gas explosion last year, recap the neighborhood’s recovery efforts, and discuss concerns over safety going forward.

The meeting is at 7 p.m. today (Tuesday) at Woodland Park United Methodist Church, 302 N. 78th St., in Fellowship Hall. (Note: The meeting is in a different location than usual, because the Greenwood Library is closed for renovations.)

A representative from the Phinney Neighborhood Association will talk about the results of the neighborhood’s fundraising efforts; Chaco Canyon owner Chris Maykut will discuss the ongoing recovery efforts of affected businesses; and a representative from Puget Sound Energy will discuss natural gas safety issues and whether our neighborhood is safer now.

The Council also will take nominations for its annual election of officers. The election will be at the April meeting.

March 19th, 2017 by Doree

The Greenwood Community Council’s March meeting will focus on reviewing the aftermath of the Greenwood natural gas explosion last year, recap the neighborhood’s recovery efforts, and discuss concerns over safety going forward.

The meeting is at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 21, at Woodland Park United Methodist Church, 302 N. 78th St., in Fellowship Hall. (Note: The meeting is in a different location than usual, because the Greenwood Library is closed for renovations.)

A representative from the Phinney Neighborhood Association will talk about the results of the neighborhood’s fundraising efforts; Chaco Canyon owner Chris Maykut will discuss the ongoing recovery efforts of affected businesses; and a representative from Puget Sound Energy will discuss natural gas safety issues and whether our neighborhood is safer now.

The Council also will take nominations for its annual election of officers. The election will be at the April meeting.

March 9th, 2017 by Doree

Two dozen Puget Sound Energy employees are talking about natural gas safety with Greenwood businesses and residents today on the one-year anniversary of the natural gas explosion that destroyed three businesses and damaged 50 more.

PSE has an information table set up inside the Greenwood Fred Meyer on NW 85th Street, and a tent in the parking lot at the corner of NW 85th Street and 1st Avenue NW, where employees are staging as they go out into the neighborhood.

PSE Vice President of Corporate Affairs Andy Wappler (in photo above, second from right) told me at 1 p.m. today that PSE employees had gone to every business within about a two-block radius of the intersection of NW 85th Street and Greenwood Avenue North.

Starting at about 2 p.m., employees planned to fan out in teams of two to knock on residents’ doors within about a four-block radius, a total of about 400 homes. Employees will be wearing bright yellow/green jackets with the PSE logo.

PSE’s website has information on what to do if you think you detect a gas leak in your home or business.

March 8th, 2017 by Doree

Puget Sound Energy representatives will be in our neighborhood tomorrow providing safety information to residents and business — on the anniversary of the natural gas explosion that demolished three businesses and damaged another 50 in the heart of Greenwood.

Dom Amor, PSE local government affairs and public policy manager, and Wendy Weiker, PSE outreach manager for King County, attended the Phinney Neighborhood Association Business Group’s quarterly lunch today. Amor said PSE will be stepping up its partnership with the PNA, and plans to join the PNA Business Group to become more involved in the community.

PSE representatives will set up an information table in the Fred Meyer parking lot beginning around 10 a.m. tomorrow (Thursday), and will visit neighborhood businesses to discuss safety issues. Later in the afternoon, somewhere around 2-6 p.m., representatives will be walking neighborhood streets, checking in with homeowners about natural gas safety.

“We take this anniversary very seriously,” Weiker said. “This is kind of an all-hands-on-deck event. Safety is the bottom line.”

Amor said after the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission’s department of Pipeline Safety released its September report saying the explosion was the result of an improperly decommissioned gas line that was later damaged, PSE checked all other decommissioned lines in the neighborhood to make sure they had been properly decommissioned.

The UTC investigation is ongoing, with a settlement meeting scheduled for July 6.

January 25th, 2017 by Doree

Several business owners affected by last year’s natural gas explosion that destroyed two buildings, heavily damaged many others and sent nine firefighters to the hospital, are demanding that Puget Sound Energy accept responsibility and pay some kind of restitution.

The business owners gathered at Taproot Theatre, half a block from the explosion site, this morning for a press conference with Seattle City Councilmember Mike O’Brien.

Eleni Ponirakis, owner of Kouzina/Zoey Catering, tears up as she announces her business will close after continuing insurance problems after being damaged in the March 9, 2016, natural gas explosion. She is surrounded by other business owners affected by the blast.

The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission’s department of Pipeline Safety announced in September that the explosion was caused by an improperly decommissioned gas line between two buildings, where a damaged threaded coupling above ground let natural gas accumulate until it was ignited. Pipeline Safety staff recommended a fine of up to $3.2 million. At the time PSE called the findings and proposed fine “disappointing and excessive.”

O’Brien said State Rep. Noel Frame, who lives in Greenwood, told him the state has scheduled another hearing with PSE in July.

Davey Oil, co-owner of G&O Family Cyclery, whose building was adjacent to the destroyed buildings and was too damaged to reoccupy, said he wants Puget Sound Energy to take responsibility and proactively check all its gas lines to make sure this doesn’t happen again – with deadly consequences.

“The blast only took two seconds to occur, but the real violence has been every day since,” Oil said. “Ten years prior (PSE) improperly decommissioned a gas pipe and they lost track of it. As a society, we need to know that our vital infrastructure is well secured, and is monitored for safety. We trust that someone has checked the brake lines on a speeding bus. We want to know that someone has checked the explosive gas lines that lead into our homes and our businesses. We have no choice but to have that trust.”

O’Brien said he’s spoken to PSE representatives several times, most recently yesterday to invite them to the press conference (the company did not send a representative), but that he believes the company is dragging its feet because it has the money and time to do so.

“We need to hold Puget Sound Energy accountable to make sure that every neighborhood is safe,” O’Brien said. “Some independent entity needs to watch over their shoulder to make sure that mistakes that happened here haven’t happened elsewhere.”

Neptune Coffee, Mr. Gyros and Greenwood Quick Stop were destroyed and have not reopened, although Mr. Gyros has locations in Ballard and Wallingford and regularly brings its food truck to the explosion site.

Meanwhile, other neighborhood business owners are still struggling to get insurance settlements, G&O has moved twice (first to a temporary location, now they’re about to open in a permanent location a block away), and Kouzina/Zoey Catering will be closing its doors for good in a week.

Kouzina owner Eleni Ponirakis said her insurance company paid her just $6,000 for the 10 days she was closed after the explosion, but refuses to pay relocation expenses. Her front door was unable to be used after the blast and she had to use the back door, but the kitchen was intact, so she continued to bake gluten-free foods for her catering customers, including Seattle Children’s, Evergreen Hospital and Victrola Coffee.

“We worked very hard to make sure our kitchen was properly set up for the gluten free…doing the right thing for our community, serving the right products,” Ponirakis said through tears. “When the gas explosion happened we didn’t think this is going to be the end for us. We were closed for almost two weeks. After that we were back and doing our wholesale and delivering to our customers.”

But after growing concerns about mold caused by explosion-related water damage in her back room, and unable to share an established kitchen because of cross contamination with gluten products, she concluded Kouzina had to shut down.

Part of the ceiling is falling down and black mold grows on the back wall of Kouzina/Zoey Catering, which was damaged in the March 9, 2016, natural gas explosion. Owner Eleni Ponirakis is at right.

“Please tell her that unlike malls and big box businesses, in small neighborhood ecosystems part of what’s exciting is that the businesses are often indigenous to the neighborhood and are very unique. They’re also fragile,” Visel said.

Taproot didn’t sustain heavy damage, but the frames on four sets of entry doors were bent, preventing them from closing and locking properly. Staff had to scramble to figure out a way to keep patrons – especially the hundreds of children in its acting programs – safe.

Chris Maykut, owner of Chaco Canyon Organic Café directly across the street, said his business was luckier than most, “even though the inside of our storefront was completely blown in, all the windows broken; everything looked like it had been put through a blender,” he said. “I’m really outraged, not for myself, but for Eleni, for Davey, for all the businesses that have been affected, destroyed, displaced. We have a billion dollar corporation…and all they’re doing is looking at a piece of paper in a big office saying, hey, if we stonewall these guys, if we don’t accept responsibility, if we don’t admit guilt, even though a nonpartisan body has found us to be liable for this, then we might be able to save some money.”

M. Louise McKay of the Bureau of Fearless Ideas, a nonprofit writing and tutoring center directly across the street from the blast site, relocated its programs to the Phinney Neighborhood Center for several months, but its store – Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co. – was closed for five months. The store’s profits support BFI’s programs, and BFI did not receive any kind of reimbursement for that. “We are disappointed by PSE’s inaction,” she said.

Oil encouraged people to support Greenwood’s small businesses.

“Puget Sound Energy’s negligence blew a hole in our dreams, but it doesn’t have to kill them,” Oil said.

Puget Sound Energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment on today’s press conference.

Update 3:20 p.m.: I spoke with PSE Spokesperson Christina Donegan, who said, “We know it’s been really tough for the whole neighborhood and especially for small businesses. Ultimately we are waiting for the process to fully play out. It takes time. We understand it’s a difficult time in the interim. Ultimately we’re about doing what’s right for safety and the businesses.”

She said the Utilities and Transportation Commission has a settlement hearing scheduled for July 6. Meanwhile, UTC and PSE are working to learn from this explosion and how to ensure high safety standards, especially regarding decommissioned pipes.

“How do you accurately analyze abandoned pipe? That’s what we’re working on with regulators right now because they want to make sure it’s done right too,” Donegan said.

She said 10 businesses filed claims against PSE, and seven of those have been resolved. The other three claims are “more complex.” She couldn’t tell me which businesses filed claims, but she did say claims could be for things like physical damage or to cover lost payroll.

“Again, we care about the community. We’re there; we serve the community. Those businesses are our customers too. I understand they may not feel that way right now, but ultimately we want to do what’s right.”

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October 12th, 2016 by Doree

The National Weather Service says a huge storm is coming our way, left over from a typhoon in the Pacific. It’s expected to start raining tonight, with high winds and flooding rains starting tomorrow through Saturday. The NWS expects it to be “an impressively stormy period.”

So make sure you’re prepared for power outages, with extra batteries for flashlights, canned food, etc.